Archive for the ‘People and Places’ Category

Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is home to Dolly Parton’s Dollywood, a hundred tacky tourist traps, one shoddy hill for skiing, and, most importantly, the best aquarium in America––Ripley’s Aquarium. Though located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in a land-locked state, the aquarium claims to have more fish (10,000 or so) than Gatlinburg has residents (almost […]

Whenever I get to go snowboarding, I vow to ride the first lift and survive off of granola bars stuffed in my pockets until the last lift closes for the day. By the last day, sure, I play the die-hard soaking up every gnarly second of woman vs. mogul. Not today. Never the first day. […]

I spent a week in Chicago. A very chilly week. Now, upon returning, I realize how very silly it was to forget my laptop computer. Oh, I vowed to pack lightly (unlike last year’s unnecessary load for a New Year’s Eve trip to NYC). I stuffed one little carry-on suitcase with thermals, leggings, and flannels […]

After my last fervent entreaty to the Web 2.0 abyss (imploring the masses to stop just staring out the window and do something exciting), I began thinking about some of my favorite American experiences, the planned and unplanned. Here is my list of 5 necessary exploits for anyone traveling through the USA (oddballs that probably […]

My calculus teacher in high school was married to a meteorologist for Channel 5 News. The days before unit exams, we all collectively begged Mrs. Calculus-Teacher to use her wifely leverage to put in a request for some snow flurries. Nothing shuts down southern cities like the threat of a few damp flakes descending to […]